Jameson in Oak Ridge now a Quality Inn

This week a temporary sign went up at the Jameson Inn, 216 S. Rutgers Ave. The hotel is now operating as a Quality Inn.

Choice Hotels International has taken over some of the chain’s locations in the Southeast as part of a nationwide foreclosure deal involving some 100 Jameson-owned hotels, according to the Goldsboro News-Argus newspaper in North Carolina.

“We’re really excited. This is a good thing,” said Kathy Cooper, general manager of the hotel in Oak Ridge. She said the ownership of the hotel and the staff hasn’t changed.

“It’s just the brand,” she said.

As part of that brand, the Oak Ridge hotel will be able to use Choice Rewards, a point system for frequent visitors.

Speaking on the other positive aspects of the “Choice move,” Cooper said, “We can offer a lot more than we could as a small, independent hotel.”

“We have a new updated computer, so it’s much more accurate. It’s a better reservation system. Plus we have a centralized reservation system for all the Choice properties,” she said.

“We’ll be getting a lot of upgrades and some changes that will be coming along — and we’re just all excited,” she said. “It’s coming along pretty quick.”

A new permanent sign will be coming to the hotel. New software for the computer is already in place.

Choice Hotels International is one of the largest lodging companies in the world with 6,600 hotels open or under development in more than 30 countries and territories, according to the Silver Springs, Md.-based company’s website. It was founded more than 70 years ago and includes the following hotels: Comfort Inn, Comfort Suites, Sleep Inn, Clarion, Cambria Suites, MainStay Suites, Suburban Extended State Hotels, EconoLodge, Rodeway Inn and Ascend Hotel Collection.

The Jameson Inn shakeup included a separate move in which Argila James Brand, an affiliate of Atlanta-based JER Partners, sold 12 properties under Jameson license agreements in Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia and Illinois to America’s Best Franchising, the North Carolina newspaper reported. America’s Best operates its own inns and suites, as well as the Budgetel, Country Hearth and Parkside hotel chains.